So much can be said first and foremost about the theories which surround time travel, enough to make any sane person go nuts. The ones presented in Project Almanac—the Michael Bay-produced film originally intended for release last February with the title Welcome To Yesterday—are just as wild and rambunctious, yet still thought-provoking. Never is it a true testament to the studio’s confidence in a major motion picture when it’s shifted almost a full year with a new title. That, to me, says you really don’t want any connection with the picture.

I suppose upon further conclusive evidence, Project Almanac serves as the better title, but when facing the facts, Welcome To Yesterday was much cooler.

The premise of Almanac is interesting enough. It follows a group of high school students, ones who are most proficient in science, mathematics and other high level mumbo-jumbo that the audience this is geared towards won’t understand (myself included). They are also really good with a camera (hence the found footage-esq style footage). After stumbling upon a camera from David (Johnny Weston) and Christina’s (Virginia Gardner) dad, who passed away ten years ago, what they discover defies logic—a teenage David at his seventh birthday party. Unable to form any reasonable explanation, the group determines time travel is indeed a factor. Digging deeper, the trio of friends discover schematics and blueprints to a powerful computer core.

After a trial of unsuccessful runs, the group delves head-first and cracks the contraption, thus defying every teenagers’ dreams. Winning the lottery, falling in love, and having the time of their lives. Of course, as with most time travel features, some rupture breaks a ripple in the force time continuum, and in true vein of all the films before it, the butterfly effect ensues.

For those of you who are not fans of the found footage genre, Project Almanac likely won’t satisfy your cravings for a wholly original piece, being in vein of much better films, like Project X or Chronicle, both of which were made for the same purpose. Almanac is also far more story-driven than one would imagine, and the romantic subplot (or the whole plot, really) takes center stage for most of the film’s climatic second half. A little drama is healthy, but not a soap opera.

In the end, there are many strengths and weaknesses of Project Almanac. The concept is intriguing and inviting enough to perhaps take the rousing trips back and forth. The screenplay is written decently enough and the characters are well-intended; and together they are what keeps Almanac afloat just long enough to reach its typical yet mumbled conclusion, even if the plot holes outweigh the film’s message. Grade: B